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Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Taxes

Econ Comments                                                                                                             
Washington Times | Obama renews call for more stimulus
Pummeled by ghastly economic news, President Obama called Monday for more spending and extended tax cuts that he said would help stimulate the economy — but these also could deepen the deficit problems that helped the federal government earn its first-ever debt downgrade last week.
Politico | Close the tax loopholes
After watching Standard & Poor’s performance in the Enron and housing debacles, it’s hard to stomach their decision to downgrade America’s credit. But even coming from S&P, there is a message we should hear: The finger pointing and hyper-partisanship has to stop. If it doesn’t, we really will be on the road to ruin.

Blogs                                                                                                                             
Mercatus Center | The Economics of the Airline Tax
Every so often, policy makers stumble into a natural experiment which permits economists to test their theories (and journalists to generally ignore their theories). Such was the case with the recent suspension of airline taxes.

Reports                                                                                                                         
NBER | Tax Policy and the Efficiency of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad
Deferral of U.S. taxes on foreign source income is commonly characterized as a subsidy to foreign investment, as reflected in its inclusion among “tax expenditures” and occasional calls for its repeal.